A very interesting read...
Soldiers, Citizens, and the State:
East German Army Officers in
Post-Unification Germany
ANDREW BICKFORD
http://journals.cambridge.org/downlo...d73b8e039e5e6c
Some extracts..
By focusing on West German state and military policies
concerning “proper” soldiers, I examine how military tradition in the Bundeswehr, and memories and representations of World War II Wehrmacht and SS soldiers, impact the ways in which former NVA officers are seen and codified.
Unification hasn’t gone well, but it is easier to simply blame us
for the past, and blame us for the present.” The feeling of being the victims of “victor’s justice” runs deep with former NVA officers, and frames the ways in which they view the post-unification German state and their experiences in the new state. As a blanket condemnation of all NVA officers, and by
extension, their families, “disqualifying justice” created serious problems for
former officers after unification.
Since unification, NVA officers are officially coded by the Ministry of Defense
as “Gediente in fremden Streitkra¨ften”—“Veterans of Foreign Armed Forces”
if they were not “real” German soldiers, then the NVAwas never a “real” German army; this classification not only removes them from use in German military tradition, it removes them from any claim to be an actual German soldier or full citizen, and makes the Bundeswehr the only “real” German army after World War II.
NVA officers are not allowed to use their titles or ranks; that is, they
cannot state, “Colonel, Retired” on any official documents or in public, nor are
they allowed to claim any academic titles earned in the GDR (this follows a
general refusal to recognize GDR academic degrees; see Berger 1995: 148).
They are, however, permitted to wear any medals and awards that they received in the GDR,
howWehrmacht officers are symbolically and historically privileged over NVA officers: “A former NVA general, who had been a lieutenant in the Wehrmacht, wrote a letter of complaint to the Minister of Defense. He signed his letter ‘Lieutenant, Retired.’ The minister’s office wrote back and did not answer his complaint, but warned him that he was not allowed to use his rank in this manner. The general wrote back, stating that he had been a lieutenant in the Wehrmacht and a general in the NVA. The minister’s office wrote back informing him it was permissible to use the Wehrmacht rank, but not the NVA rank, as service in theWehrmacht was officially recognized and legitimate, whereas that in the NVA was not.”
Officially, SS and Wehrmacht members who
later served in the West German Bundeswehr can receive a state burial
because of their service to the West German state, while NVA officers, who
never served in the Bundeswehr, are not entitled to this honor
The deployment of tradition, and the valorization of World War II German soldiers drive the symbolic and economic marginalization of NVA officers. It leads them to believe that they are correct in viewing the Federal Republic and the Bundeswehr as mere continuations of the fascist past, a belief that in turn helps perpetuate their marginalization and the popular impression that they are “unrepentant communists.”
Attempts on the part of former NVA veterans groups to press for a review of their status have, for the most part, met with a cold reception on the part of the German government and military.
“I’m sixty-three-years old, and spent my entire life working in one form or another. My career in the NVA was work. Since unification, I haven’t had a job. I’ve applied to over 120 positions, but have been turned down for each one. I believe it is because I was a career NVA officer. No one wants to hire us once they see “NVA” on the job application. I’ve just applied for a job at Tempelhof Airport—it’s for a baggage handler job
In a contradictory process, the German government and military have
stripped NVA officers of their distinction as “German soldiers,” yet, by allowing
them to take part in Kameradschaften meetings, they are, at least unofficially,
recognized as German soldiers.
Soldiers, Citizens, and the State:
East German Army Officers in
Post-Unification Germany
ANDREW BICKFORD
http://journals.cambridge.org/downlo...d73b8e039e5e6c
Some extracts..
By focusing on West German state and military policies
concerning “proper” soldiers, I examine how military tradition in the Bundeswehr, and memories and representations of World War II Wehrmacht and SS soldiers, impact the ways in which former NVA officers are seen and codified.
Unification hasn’t gone well, but it is easier to simply blame us
for the past, and blame us for the present.” The feeling of being the victims of “victor’s justice” runs deep with former NVA officers, and frames the ways in which they view the post-unification German state and their experiences in the new state. As a blanket condemnation of all NVA officers, and by
extension, their families, “disqualifying justice” created serious problems for
former officers after unification.
Since unification, NVA officers are officially coded by the Ministry of Defense
as “Gediente in fremden Streitkra¨ften”—“Veterans of Foreign Armed Forces”
if they were not “real” German soldiers, then the NVAwas never a “real” German army; this classification not only removes them from use in German military tradition, it removes them from any claim to be an actual German soldier or full citizen, and makes the Bundeswehr the only “real” German army after World War II.
NVA officers are not allowed to use their titles or ranks; that is, they
cannot state, “Colonel, Retired” on any official documents or in public, nor are
they allowed to claim any academic titles earned in the GDR (this follows a
general refusal to recognize GDR academic degrees; see Berger 1995: 148).
They are, however, permitted to wear any medals and awards that they received in the GDR,
howWehrmacht officers are symbolically and historically privileged over NVA officers: “A former NVA general, who had been a lieutenant in the Wehrmacht, wrote a letter of complaint to the Minister of Defense. He signed his letter ‘Lieutenant, Retired.’ The minister’s office wrote back and did not answer his complaint, but warned him that he was not allowed to use his rank in this manner. The general wrote back, stating that he had been a lieutenant in the Wehrmacht and a general in the NVA. The minister’s office wrote back informing him it was permissible to use the Wehrmacht rank, but not the NVA rank, as service in theWehrmacht was officially recognized and legitimate, whereas that in the NVA was not.”
Officially, SS and Wehrmacht members who
later served in the West German Bundeswehr can receive a state burial
because of their service to the West German state, while NVA officers, who
never served in the Bundeswehr, are not entitled to this honor
The deployment of tradition, and the valorization of World War II German soldiers drive the symbolic and economic marginalization of NVA officers. It leads them to believe that they are correct in viewing the Federal Republic and the Bundeswehr as mere continuations of the fascist past, a belief that in turn helps perpetuate their marginalization and the popular impression that they are “unrepentant communists.”
Attempts on the part of former NVA veterans groups to press for a review of their status have, for the most part, met with a cold reception on the part of the German government and military.
“I’m sixty-three-years old, and spent my entire life working in one form or another. My career in the NVA was work. Since unification, I haven’t had a job. I’ve applied to over 120 positions, but have been turned down for each one. I believe it is because I was a career NVA officer. No one wants to hire us once they see “NVA” on the job application. I’ve just applied for a job at Tempelhof Airport—it’s for a baggage handler job
In a contradictory process, the German government and military have
stripped NVA officers of their distinction as “German soldiers,” yet, by allowing
them to take part in Kameradschaften meetings, they are, at least unofficially,
recognized as German soldiers.
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